No S, but his ability to get to the QB is natural and can not be taught. Improved slightly yes, but you can't turn a p***y cat into a dog (Michael Sam). If Mizzou has such great coaching (not saying they don't) why was Harris their only draft pick? The answer...Talent, pure and simple. Some people are just better at sports than others.

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Well, he came in as a 2 star recruit and ended up as a top 25 pick...coaching is a part of that. Mizzou doesn't typically land, high-end players, they live in the 2-3 star range for recruits and do what they can, the fact that they have consistently produced high round pass rushers should speak on the programs ability to take the raw talent and develop it. Also, not sure how Micheal Sam was a *****, he wasn't athletic enough to transfer to playing in the NFL, but he was SEC defensive player of the year, not an easy feat, especially with limited natural gifts...maybe that was indeed coaching?

I said you can't really teach it, obviously you can work on it some and improve, but the natural ability to rush the passer that Wake, Harris, and Branch (yes I went there) posses, is rare and hard to find. Or in other words, they have unteachable traits and ability to get to the QB. Go Nats

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Obviously physical, quick twitch abilities are not taught but there are other important traits that need to be groomed. Cameron Wake was Derek Wake, the mortgage broker (and later personal trainer) before he decided to make the commitment to be great. He gets by on quickness and power but most players have to refine their technique before they become successful. He is one of the few that can be success with a speed rush alone but that's not to say he hasn't worked to refine that technique. Wake has elite physical tools. 4.5- 40, 45.5" vertical, 1.63 10 yard split, etc.

Harris will not make it with physical tools and a speed rush because he is not as physically gifted as Cam Wake. He will have to work hard to gain functional strength and master other techniques, IMO. We know he has the spin move and a bull rush but how far will that get him against Nate Solder or Cordy Glenn?

And btw Harris didn't even start playing football until late in his H.S career. If that doesn't prove my point well than I just don't know what does. Maybe he just had really good coaching that nobody else on Mizzou received lmao.

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I like Harris and I think he has the right attitude. He obviously worked hard to get here and should continue to do so. He was one of the more refined pass rushers in this draft. Some say he was the most polished so he obviously worked at his technique. We all saw by his combine that he is not just getting by with elite physical tools because they were sub-par.

Obviously physical, quick twitch abilities are not taught but there are other important traits that need to be groomed. Cameron Wake was Derek Wake, the mortgage broker (and later personal trainer) before he decided to make the commitment to be great. He gets by on quickness and power but most players have to refine their technique before they become successful. He is one of the few that can be success with a speed rush alone but that's not to say he hasn't worked to refine that technique. Wake has elite physical tools. 4.5- 40, 45.5" vertical, 1.63 10 yard split, etc.

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We're basically splitting hairs here, but this was my whole point originally. We have 3 guys who are excellent athletes for the DE position (disagree with you on Harris just based on his combine numbers) and NE does not. They have some good football players and some big men inside, but other than maybe Ealy, they don't have "physical, quick twitch abilites" that Wake, Harris, and Branch posses. And I would even argue Branch > Ealy, but I'm biased lol.

Fair points, but there are certain things you can't really teach such as rushing the passer. NE's Oline may have played way above their heads last year, but they supposedly have a legendary Oline coach, plus with their balanced O and quick release QB's, Oline deficiencies are much easier to mask. The Pats are going to rely heavily on Ealy providing them with a pass rush, Long and Sheard may not have been great pass rushers, but they are solid all around football players NE will miss. Their Primary players up front are probably going to be Branch, Flowers, Brown, Ealy, and Valentine. Those are some solid players, especially against the run which they prioritize, but they don't offer the pass rushing ability that our front has, especially after drafting Harris. NE obviously gets the most out of their players and I think their secondary is better than ours, but I like our front 7 over theirs and think that will make a big difference this season. I truly believe we can win the division and make a deep playoff run this year, mostly due to the strength of our front 7, we will find out.

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Doesn't really matter all that much how well you rush the passer when you give up 4.8 ypc on the ground. Defense can't really pin their ears back and get after the QB if you never have the offense in 3rd and long situations.

Doesn't really matter all that much how well you rush the passer when you give up 4.8 ypc on the ground. Defense can't really pin their ears back and get after the QB if you never have the offense in 3rd and long situations.

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I'm expecting Hayes, Godchaux, Timmons and McMillan to assist with that. Not to mention Jones is back, these 5 are a significant upgrades to the roster from the end of last year. Godchaux may be a ? as is McMillan, but our DT depth was really bad last year when Mitchell went down. When Jones got hurt, we simply didn't have the horses to stop the run, we do now.

I'm expecting Hayes, Godchaux, Timmons and McMillan to assist with that. Not to mention Jones is back, these 5 are a significant upgrades to the roster from the end of last year. Godchaux may be a ? as is McMillan, but our DT depth was really bad last year when Mitchell went down. When Jones got hurt, we simply didn't have the horses to stop the run, we do now.

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And Mitchell was one of 3 DTs we used almost exclusively because the others on the roster were terrible...and Phillips is inconsistent until proven otherwise. Phillips was a 2nd round pick and still the light hasn't come on...some of you are expecting rookie DTs to come in and play like veterans and fix our run defense. I think that's very unrealistic. Linebackers don't take as long in run defense...although they can get suckered by misdirection which was a weakness of the veterans we had at linebacker last year. I think Hayes will help and Timmons too but if the DTs can't keep the OGs from getting to the linebackers Timmons will be negated.

I also think the knocks on McMillan in coverage are overblown. He was so young and asked to do so much. He will get better coaching to get better in that area in the NFL. He was 17 years old when he got to OSU and started as a freshman. I believe he turned 18 a day before the 5th game of the season and then went on to win a national championship in the same season. That pretty amazing.

Is there any reason why Tank could not operate as our nickel this year to start the season and as the BACKUP boundary corner? I don't think there's any doubt that he has the quickness and athleticism to operate in the slot, and can play his more natural position outside if Howard or Maxwell get hurt.
I just think that we should get our best players on the field at the same time, and in the nickel, Howard, Maxwell and Tank are our best 3 corners right now IMO... I'm not a big fan of Lippett or McCain. In fact I think that Lippett should learn to play FS because he just does not have the man to man coverage skills or tackling ability to play corner. He's better suited as a FS that can read the QB's eyes and make plays on the football imo.

Is there any reason why Tank could not operate as our nickel this year to start the season and as the BACKUP boundary corner? I don't think there's any doubt that he has the quickness and athleticism to operate in the slot, and can play his more natural position outside if Howard or Maxwell get hurt.
I just think that we should get our best players on the field at the same time, and in the nickel, Howard, Maxwell and Tank are our best 3 corners right now IMO... I'm not a big fan of Lippett or McCain. In fact I think that Lippett should learn to play FS because he just does not have the man to man coverage skills or tackling ability to play corner. He's better suited as a FS that can read the QB's eyes and make plays on the football imo.

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Agree on Lippett, he's got a lot more upside at FS than CB, just needs to learn how to tackle better like a lot of our defense.

Emphasis in the off season and the draft is to stop the run on defense which was our number one weakness on our defense last year. I agree with that philosophy. Start with stopping the run and make the opposing team one diminisional. This may not help us beat the Pats right away but it should help win more games period. Of course Harris and Tank proves there is a longer term plan to have a better pass defense too.

Just FYI Kilgo is NE's backup nose and has 7 career tackles and has never recorded a sack, 3 years in the league. Their starter Valentine only had 19 tackles and 1 sack last year so he's not exactly elite either, but definitely a solid NT (like our Phillips). Their backup DT's are Josh Augusta, Adam Butler, and Woodrow Hamilton, ever heard of those guys? Their ends are Flowers, Branch (more of a DT), Guy, Wise, Vereen, and now Kony Ealy. They have some nice players up front, but so do we. NE has some solid LB's but that group is not exactly elite anymore especially with Nink getting up there in age, our LB's are just as good as a group if not better. Their backups would be considered "bodies" as well, but nobody cares because they're the almighty Cheatriots. We have a more talented and deeper front 7 than NE, I think this is the year we can finally take control of the East, we shall see...

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Coaching and scheme is more important than sheer talent. Both factors you're leaving out here in your poor attempt at rattling off names that you don't recognize to deem them unnecessary despite an environment that put them in a situation to excel.

Is there any reason why Tank could not operate as our nickel this year to start the season and as the BACKUP boundary corner?

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You're then removing him from the one area of strength which is being a press CB. If someone kicks Tankersley inside it would only highlight poor coaching and decision making on the defensive side of the ball.

You're then removing him from the one area of strength which is being a press CB. If someone kicks Tankersley inside it would only highlight poor coaching and decision making on the defensive side of the ball.

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While I agree that he's better suited for the boundry, so are Maxwell, Howard and Lippett. The question will be can any of the four play the slot, because you can only have two boundry corners on the field at a given time. Sure they should be on the boundry, but if it's third and long are any of them a better option in the slot than McCain? It might be better to have Tankersley trying to play the slot than being on the sideline watching Maxwell, Howard or Lippett on the boundry.

Get ready for the Michael Thomas show if McCain goes down.
A lot of coverage rolls to get Jones working crossing zones and reading eyes. That leaves Nate Allen to play deep, granted I wasnt sure Isa could handle and he did quite well

The last team I would look at to see what kind of depth they have is NE. Belichick takes nobodies who've done nothing and gets them to play within the system and play well together. No one had heard of most of their O-line last year and yet they were one of the best O-lines in the league. No Tom Brady...Jimmy Garopolo goes 3-1, trade away Jamie Collins...no drop off on the defense, pretty sure they cut or traded some offensive lineman before the season and their offensive line, though unproven, performed better than the year before.

I could care less what NE's roster looks like. They've got the best coach in the league. Miami needs to worry about Miami because they don't have the best coach in the league but they have to face the best twice a year.

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Very reminiscent of Shula. If Gase is the next great up and coming young coach, then the Phins will be fine.

To contain Brady the defense has to tackle well, Bobby McCain seems to let the defender cross his face and don't anticipate well, make Brady move to one side with a pass rush and tackle his receivers, father time will catch up to him, but until then punish him in the pocket, His receivers are running the the same drag routes all day long, McCain need to play better and stop thinking that someone else is going to have his back when he plays SOFT defense.

Very reminiscent of Shula. If Gase is the next great up and coming young coach, then the Phins will be fine.

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That goes without saying. And if all our draft picks and FA signings work out, we'll be fine, too. But every offseason we have multiple holes and every year we depend on FAs and rookies to fill them. And every year some work out and some don't. Tunsil was the only rookie who had an impact last year, and none did the year before, but surely Vince Taylor and Isaac Asiata will fill our need at guard and DT, right? And then there will be injuries and we'll have new needs to fill. That's why it's so hard to get ahead in this league.